What I've Been Up To 6/3

The blog has been calling my name, so I'm finally answering it. I wanted to thank everyone for the wonderful responses to my last post. It wasn't just the comments and the emails of support that I got that made me happy, but just knowing that there are amazing people like all of you out there makes the world a much better place to be in. A world of acceptance is a wonderful thing and I think the more we're verbal about our acceptance of others for who they are, that can only be a good thing. It lets others know that it's ok to be you, brush those insecurities aside. The few negative people and the negative media out there casts enough judgement...I like that we counteract that by accepting and creating an environment of acceptance to balance the internalizing fear of the negativity.

Ok....catch up time! Here's what I've been up to:

What I've been reading: I don't have enough room here to tell you ALL of what I've been reading, but I'll tell you about a few things that I've especially loved. This has been the year of comics for me. I don't know what's come over me but I've been a comics reading machine lately! And thanks to Marvel Unlimited I've been reading a lot of Marvel Stuff! My two latest Marvel obsessions are Nova and Young Avengers. Young Avengers you can read in one sitting...and you'll want to because it's SO GOOD!! The whole series run (by Gillen) consists of 15 issues and it's AMAZING. Not only does it have one of the best teenage gay couples I've read in ages, but it also features a bisexual character which sadly is so rarely represented in literature, much less, comics. Also KATE BISHOP for the Hawkeye lovers. I went into this series expecting to really enjoy it, but didn't know how head over heels in love I'd fall for it. Thanks Debs, Memory and Ana for recommending this one!

Nova is SO GOOD!!! I've really come to love Marvel's cosmic universe...I've never read any Nova prior to this, but after reading Guardians of the Galaxy, Legendary Star Lord and Rocket Raccoon, I was all caught up with Marvel's current stuff and going through cosmic withdrawals...which left me with Nova. I'm so glad I read it because it's my favorite now of all of the cosmic stuff. Once again, it comes down to the characters and the story. It's more than just a superhero story, it's a story with heart and I love Sam Alexander so much. I love how this series ties into so many other Marvel series as well without you having to know much about other Marvel series, yet still makes those tie ins that much more enjoyable if you do follow them.

Right now I'm reading Bone Gap by Laura Ruby and I instantly fell for this book from page 1. I knew I'd love this one just from Ana's review of it and from the cover :p Yes, I do judge books by the cover. The fact that it's magical realism is something that doesn't hurt either. I've had a special place in my heart for all things magical realism ever since reading The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender years ago, which made me fall in love with the style. Ruby's writing is beautiful and wistful and she paints scenes that just etch themselves into your mind and momentarily take your breath away. I love it when an author is able to do that and too few authors do it. I'm looking forward to where this book goes, though I'm fearful of where it's going as well.

I'm also listening to the audio of Dreamland by Sam Quinones. This book is about the opiate epidemic in the US and it's something that I see entirely too much of at the hospital I work at. We have a detox unit and I do admissions for the hospital. We probably admit about 6-7 heroin addicts a day and get at least 40 calls/day for people looking for heroin detox. Heroin has become such a rampant drug. People use it like I remember people using pot when I was a teenager. It's cheap, it's easily accessible apparently, and highly addictive. This book so far is an excellent expose on how the epidemic became what it is and I'm learning a lot from it.

What I'm listening to - The new Sufjan Stevens album!! Carrie and Lowell. Wow it's amazing. I think I say this with every new Sufjan album, but I truly think it's the best thing he's put out so far. I love the quietness of this album, the way it has these little swells in the instrumentation, the intimacy of the lyrics that had to be brutal to write and share. It's impossible to listen to this album and not have an emotional reaction to it. You can feel that he poured his entirety into it and it's beautiful. I'm not listening to it yet, but I'm REALLY excited to get the new Jamie XX album! I have the vinyl on it's way to me. I've always loved the XX and I've loved the solo stuff he's put out so far. It's very house-y and reminds me of late 90's house music. Looking forward to that one!

What I'm growing - Sadly not too much :/ I don't know what's going on with my garden this year. There's lots of green but not many flowers and vegetables. Maybe I need to fertilize. I think my vegetables have gotten too much rain this year and not enough sun. It's been raining like crazy. So I think they've just been waterlogged and the plants just drop their flowers. My eggplant is putting out beautiful little purple flowers but no eggplants. Same with the tomatoes. My coneflowers however are coming up gorgeously!! And my roses are growing well too! And I have pomegranates on my pomegranate tree :)

What I'm watching - So you think you can dance just started! I'm a total sucker for that show!!! My brother's girlfriend auditioned this season but didn't make it onto the show. I hope she auditions again because she's a beautiful dancer. I've been watching Wayward Pines and I'm still on the fence about it. I think I was just SO excited about that show that there was bound to be a little let down. I think I expected it to be M. Knight Shyamalan presents Twin Peaks which it kind of is but I don't know...it's missing something for me. I just discovered Agents of Shield on Netflix so I'm binge watching that right now!! And we'll have new Orange is the New Black soon YAY! Oh and Halt and Catch Fire started again! Does anyone else watch that? I haven't heard anyone talk about that show but I think it's a pretty decent AMC show!

What I'm cooking - I haven't had ANY time to cook lately :( I've been wanting to cook. I did discover a renewed love of french toast though! Easy and quick and SO GOOD! I hadn't had french toast in literally like 10 years and wanted something sweet the other night....egg, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, bread, pan...AMAZINGNESS. I could eat that with some bacon every night.

So that's what I've been up to! Hopefully it won't be another month until I talk to you again ;)